After seeing his damascus petty knives posted up here, I sent an inquiry to Del about pricing. He was very responsive and couldn't have been easier to work with. He offered to send me pictures - and delivered on the promise in short time. He was most gracious even when I turned down his offer of wood for the handle after he had sent special pictures to me. I received this knife in good time after payment to Mr. Ealy. The knife was very well packaged in envelope after box after envelope, maybe too well. Good thing I have sharp knives around :wink:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v704/Seancorbett/P6225608-2.jpg

As you can see the damascus pattern is quite distinct. I like the very fine line quality along with more "open" areas. There are parts of the blade that have a darker shade along the steel that distracts slightly from the pattern. The spine and choil are just about perfectly rounded. I also appreciate Del's signature grind with the 45ish degree angle coming from the spine to choil. It's edge too is nicely rounded.

The grind of the knife is definitely thin but I have detected no flex or springiness in the edge. The edge it was sent with is sharp and it cuts quite nicely. The edge Del created does look a bit uneven on close inspection, however, so I do believe there is room for improvement (isn't there always?). Personally, I love the edge profile. I think the knife looks damn good and it feels very nice when cutting especially for it's size. I did notice product sticking to the blade when cutting, more so than some of my other knives. I have not owned another damascus kitchen knife so I'm not sure if that is the cause, or the grind/profile.

So far I have cut very little with the knife so I have nothing to report about edge holding, patina, or how it feels on the stones.

Overall I'm exceptionally satisfied with this great little knife, and I'll be putting a handle on it soon :thumbsup:

That is pretty cool. I have Del putting one together for me with a custom handle. I was going to just get a blade from him but then I looked at his gyuto handles and some of the handles on his non-kitchen customs. Great wood, simple and well made. I like his handles enough to have him make handles for 2 other knives for me.